How To Set Up A uTorrent Server On Linux

If you love uTorrent, but don’t feel like dealing with Wine just to get it working on Linux, there’s another way to enjoy the software. As it turns out, uTorrent does have support for Linux, in the form of “uTorrent server” which means you can set up a uTorrent server on Linux and avoid using Wine altogether.

uTorrent server works like a lot of other torrent server tools on Linux and allows users to add torrents from any machine on the network via a web browser.

Install uTorrent Server

The uTorrent server app does have Linux support, though it only has downloads available for Debian/Ubuntu systems. If you plan to run a uTorrent server on Linux, it’s best to install Ubuntu Server, or to set up a Debian server, as there appear to be no plans for Redhat based systems like CentOS/Suse Enterprise, Fedora Server, Rhel, etc.

Note: if you absolutely have to have uTorrent server on your Redhat Linux server system, try running the software anyway. Though the website says it supports “Debian,” it’s just a Tar archive.

Getting uTorrent server starts out by using the wget download tool. Open up a terminal and grab the most recent version of the server software.

This version of uTorrent server is for Ubuntu 13.04, and Debian 7. However, it will run on newer versions like Ubuntu server 18.04, and Debian 9. To do this, you’ll need to install a few things. Specifically, LibSSL 1.0. In a terminal, enter the following commands to get it going.

sudo apt install libssl1.0.0 libssl-dev

or, for Debian users:

sudo apt-get install libssl1.0.0 libssl-dev

Set up uTorrent

Downloading uTorrent server for Linux contains a few things. Mainly, the core server software, which is important to run the app. In addition to the server binary, there’s a web UI component that needs setting up. Luckily, to set up the web UI, you’ll only need to extract some files to a directory. In a terminal, use the cd command and move the terminal to the new /opt/utorrent-server/ folder on your server. Thengain root access to start the extraction process.

cd /opt/utorrent-server/
sudo -s

The uTorrent software package has another archive inside of it, that needs extracting. To extract it, run unzip.

unzip webui.zip

Start tuTorrent Server

With the uTorrent Server application set up correctly, it’s time to launch it. Open up a terminal and use the CD command to move to the uTorrent server directory.

cd /opt/utorrent-server/

In the uTorrent server directory, use the chmod command to update the server app’s permissions and set it to “executable”. It’s important to update the permissions of this file, otherwise, the server will not start up.

sudo chmod +x utserver

Now that the permissions are set up correctly, uTorrent server is ready to start up. In the terminal, execute the utserver file.

sudo ./utserver

Run uTorrent Server In Background

The uTorrent server is running, though it doesn’t have a script to automatically start it up. As a result, the admin will need to manually run the utserver command and keep a terminal open.

Luckily, it’s possible to set up uTorrent server to run in the background, with the help of a simple script. To set up the script, open up a terminal and follow the instructions below.

First, add the Shebang to the autostart program. Adding a Shebang allows Bash and the terminal to understand what to do with the script when run.